


A Noble's Insistence & A Heart Stolen

by Josie20k



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi | Fire Emblem: Binding Blade
Genre: Blood, F/F, Femslash, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Intimacy, Kissing, Post-Canon, Romance, Tsunderes, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23874943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josie20k/pseuds/Josie20k
Summary: Cath stared back into Clarine's eyes. Those eyes, and her voice, were so intense. It made it painful for Cath to keep up her facade. But what would have been more painful? Pushing Clarine away, or taking the mask off? Cath may have been the thief, but half of her heart had been stolen, and Clarine was hell-bent on finishing the heist.--------------Cath loots the Aquleian palace, and what seems like a piece of cake ends up getting her injured. Clarine, the LAST person she wants to see while vulnerable, tends to her wounds.
Relationships: Cass | Cath/Clarine
Kudos: 8





	A Noble's Insistence & A Heart Stolen

Cath chuckled as she slipped past the palace guards, creeping deeper through the dark halls until she reached the treasury’s door. She crouched, pulling out a lockpick and maneuvering it inside the lock until a satisfying _click_ echoed. A grin spread to both of her ears.

_When are these losers gonna get a decent security system? It’s like stealing candy from a spoiled brat._

Cath opened the door and slithered into the treasury. Chests lined the floor. She paced over to the first one, sticking another lockpick inside of it. Another satisfying _click._ She swung the chest open, and her heart soared upon seeing the contents.

Gold. Nothin’ but gold; judging by the size of the chest, thousands of gold coins filled up the inside.

“Come to mama!”

Cath scooped up handfuls of gold and deposited them into one of her bags. She ran out of room in her first bag, and so she began to fill up the second one. Assuming the other chests were as full, she wouldn’t have enough bags to take it all. It would still take those stupid nobles down a peg; that was enough for her.

With a bit of force, Cath emptied the contents of the chest across three bags. She crept to another chest when...

“Hey! Who’s there?!”

Cath whipped her head around.

_Great... I left the door open._

An axe-wielding guard stepped through the open door. He glared at Cath.

“Filthy thief!” The guard shouted. His comrades were likely alerted.

“You little...” Cath glared right back.

She lunged at the guard. Cath ducked under an axe swing and smacked the guard on the head with one of her heavy bags. Several pounds of gold drove into the guard’s temple, knocking him to the floor with a thump. He wasn’t dead, but he definitely had a concussion.

“Shoulda worn a helmet, tinhead!” Cath stuck out her tongue as she darted away from the treasury.

Cath heard many calls for action in the distance. They knew she was there. No matter. She kept running through the corridors, intending to go out the same way she came in.

That would be difficult, however, as she was met with a mercenary and a knight.

Cath kept running. She dodged a swing from the mercenary’s sword, pushing him into the wall. She ran at the knight, watching the lance, preparing to dodge. What she wasn’t preparing for was a stiff kick to the gut. Cath grunted in pain as she was stopped in her tracks.

She remained standing as she wrapped her arms around her throbbing stomach. She glanced over her shoulder to see the mercenary, composure regained, ready to strike. The mercenary and the knight both lunged at her, weapons glimmering. Cath gave in to the pain and dropped to the floor, letting the two ambushers smash their heads against each other, throwing themselves into a daze. Cath took the chance to rush under the knight’s legs, scramble to her feet, and scamper away.

That kick was something else, though. Cath still felt pain in her gut as she ran. She tried her best to ignore it. The nobles would do much worse to her, if she was caught, she was _most_ certain.

After taking a couple of turns in the corridors, Cath was certain the two had lost her. She continued running, trying to make her way to the stairwell. 

Her heart shuddered as an arrow flew inches away from her arm and buried itself inside a nearby pillar.

A blonde-haired archer came into view; judging by his outfit, and his resemblance to a _certain someone_ in Cath’s army time, she knew he was a noble. 

“You don’t have to get hurt,” He said. “Give back what you stole and everything will be fine.”

Cath sneered, “Get lost, blue blood!”

Cath sprinted, dodging the second haphazardly fired arrow. The noble scrambled to pull out another arrow and pull back his bowstring. Cath had gotten so close to him...

But then, Cath screamed into her hand as she dropped to one knee. She looked down. An arrow had made a cozy home inside her left thigh and her blood emigrated to the floor. The noble lowered his bow to his side, taking steps of peace up to what seemed like a vulnerable girl.

_Big mistake, bastard._

Cath stood on both feet, fighting against her body’s trembling. She used all her dying strength, swiftly raising her right leg and driving the heel of her shoe into the noble’s face. He yelped in pain, dropping his bow as he fell to the floor with a thump. Cath hobbled away, forcing herself to run even as her leg grew numb.

Cath finally made it to the stairs. She grinned, though it was dulled, considering she had an arrow in her thigh. She looked down the stairs and that grin turned to horror.

A whole squad of six guards were rushing up the stairs at full speed. With her leg the way it was, she would never be able to take on six guards at once. Nor would she be able to run from them, either. 

She shot her head around, looking for a quick escape. That’s when she spotted it; an open window right next to the stairs. She was two stories high, but...

_My leg’s damned, anyway. It’s worth a shot._

Cath leapt up, crouching in the window. Grabbing her scarf so that the wind wouldn’t blow it away into the night, she jumped. The squad arrived in time to see her fall.

“She jumped! Get a search party outside, NOW!”

Cath stuck her injured leg out as she fell. She fell into some bushes, yet her foot still hit the ground. Nothing broke, but pain still shot through her weak leg, not helped by the various scratches left from the bush. She collapsed to the ground, getting tangled up in the bushes.

Her leg was completely numb. She struggled to free herself from the bushes, constantly falling over in different ways thanks to that leg. She finally managed to stand, putting all her weight onto her working leg. Luckily, the village she planned to visit was in the direction of the window she jumped from. And so, she hopped in that direction, hoping to get to the village before the army did.

\------------------------

Cath limped her way along the dirt path, too tired to force a fast pace. She had reached the edge of the forest and was several miles away from Aquleia’s palace. She stopped and leaned over to catch her breath. 

_OK... Just gotta get through this forest and I’ll be at the village. I can make it, no prob-_

Cath’s eyes widened as she heard a horse trotting up to her. She turned, expecting to fear whatever she found, though the reason was unknown to her.

It was Lady Clarine, mounted upon her horse. Cath winced as a flutter forced its way into her heart. She tried to walk away. 

Clarine hopped off her horse and began to tie them to a tree, “Is that any way to greet someone who’s come to help you?”

“Yeah?” Cath said, sweating, “And what are you gonna do about- IT!”

Cath’s body gave out, and she fell to her elbows and knees. She heaved under the weight of her own body, barely able to move. 

Clarine rushed over and crouched, “First, I will help you with this wound. I can teach you manners at a later time.”

Cath rolled her eyes as she reached back and grabbed the arrow, trying to pull it out. A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled it away. Her face turned a deep red when she realized there was only one person here who could touch her. The first and last person she wanted touching her.

“Don’t do that yet,” Clarine scolded. “You’ll bleed out.”

Clarine held her staff out, directing it to Cath’s wound. Light surrounded Cath. The pain in her gut faded away, and she felt some color return to her leg. The magic wasn’t enough, however. It would never be enough, not with the arrow still in her and the wound still bleeding.

“We’ll need something to stop the bleeding... this’ll do,” Clarine grabbed Cath’s scarf. “Now you may pull it out.”

Cath grunted, but otherwise didn’t argue. She grabbed the arrow and pulled it as Clarine waited, scarf in hand. Cath breathed in and out her mouth deeply as every little movement spread pain throughout her body. With a sharp yank, she took the arrow out, opening up her wound.

“Grrrfff- ack!” Cath whimpered and convulsed as the pain flared up and blood poured out.

Clarine moved promptly, wrapping the scarf around the wound before too much blood could be lost. She tied it around Cath’s leg, pressing it to both sides of the wound. 

“Argh, that hurts,” Cath said.

“Did it not hurt before?”

Cath smacked her face down in the dirt as her body shivered, “F-fair point.”

Clarine continued pressing the scarf against both sides of the wound until she was certain the bleeding had slowed. She leaned back and exhaled.

“There. Now, we just need to give it time,” Clarine said. “And I should be able to heal your leg. But it’s quite the serious wound; you’ll have to be careful with it for a while.”

“A-alright...”

“That means no more thievery, understand?” Clarine scowled, “And what were you thinking, anyway? Jumping out of a window with a leg like that!”

“I don’t need a freakin’ noble telling me how to live my life,” Cath said. She tried to shoot a dirty look at Clarine, but it was impossible due to the pain...?

_Yeah, definitely the pain._

Clarine stared. Cath’s body couldn’t tell if it wanted to be tense or relaxed.

“So what? Have you come to take your gold back?” Cath said.

“What do you think? I thought my intentions were quite clear. If not, then...” Clarine brushed off her skirt, “Cath, come rest your head in my lap.”

Cath quickly turned her head away. She tried to hide the blush, and twitching smile, that formed, “Excuse me?”

“It’s for purely medical reasons, as far as you care,” Clarine said. “You’re going to open your wound again with how tense your body is. And I don’t know about you, but I didn’t bring a pillow.”

When Cath dared to look again, Clarine had sat with her knees out. Her casual skirt was longer and frillier than the one she wore to battle. And, though Cath hated to admit it, it looked more comfy than the dirt ground.

Cath, with some help from Clarine, rolled her body face up. She rested her head in Clarine’s lap and her hands on her stomach. She would never admit it, but her breathing became more steady and calm as she looked up into Clarine’s eyes. 

“... I could rob you blind,” Cath said. “Those clothes look expensive. I could strip you bare, and make who knows how much off of them, yet you still came to me?”

“You say that as if I don’t want you to strip me bare, darling,” Clarine smirked.

Cath’s eyes widened and her face flashed red after such a response. She twisted her body, “Urk... that is...”

Clarine set her hand on Cath’s cheek, “Stop shifting like that, your leg is still weak.”

Cath did as ordered. Looking away, she said, “But, wow... you sure have a way with words. So you really are here because you care about me...”

“Again, I thought my intentions were clear. You sure seemed to care for me when we first met.”

“That was different,” Cath fiddled with her gloves. “I was lonely then, not lonely now. I don’t need some noble’s distorted idea of love.”

“You wound me. You really believe I have ill intentions for you? You, a common thief girl, with no titles, prestige only among the rabble, who cannot grant me any benefit among the nobility? Also, I don’t believe you for a second when you say you aren't lonely.”

Cath stared back into Clarine’s eyes. Those eyes, and her voice, were so intense. It made it painful for Cath to keep up her facade. But what would have been more painful? Pushing Clarine away, or taking the mask off? Cath may have been the thief, but half of her heart had been stolen, and Clarine was hell-bent on finishing the heist.

“I... guess you have a point,” Cath said.

Clarine grasped Cath’s hands. The two wrapped their fingers together and held hands. 

“But... we’re doomed, aren’t we?” Cath said, “How could we be together? I mean, nobody’s gonna support us.”

“So what? A lack of support didn’t stop my mother.”

“What about my thievery?”

“Mm. Not a big deal. You see nobles like me as your enemy, and while I can’t speak for any other... you and me are on closer sides than you think. And your skill in subterfuge would be helpful to a lady like myself.”

Cath paused, her mouth open. Any other excuses she came up with were too poor to leave her mouth. Tears built up as Cath smiled, “Then, consider my heart stolen... milady.”

Clarine smiled back. Cath tried to lift her head before falling right back down into Clarine’s lap. Clarine lowered her head, connecting her lips with Cath’s under the light of the moon and the shade of the trees.

They had both stolen from each other, and they couldn’t be happier about it.

**Author's Note:**

> It's a bit late, but have some sappy sapphic ladies for Lesbian Visibility Day.
> 
> Did you like this story? Don't be afraid to comment if so; I appreciate all comments! Thank you for reading :)


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